Clone Wars Weekly: Jar Jar's Episode - "Oh Dear..."

By Steve Fritz November 21, 2008 09:14am ET

If C3PO is anything, the diplomatic droid is a master of
understatement. Usually when he says “oh, dear,” is usually a warning
of or reaction to one kind of disaster or another. The only thing
that’s surprising about going on a diplomatic mission with Jar Jar
Binks is poor C3PO doesn’t have a few more choice or stronger words to
say when all is said and done. Especially when the Gungan is mistaken
for a Jedi.

Then again, that’s just what the latest episode of Star Wars: Clone Wars, entitled “Bombad Jedi,” is all about.
In the episode, also featuring Padme Amidala (Catherine Taber), the trio
go off to keep a planet that is slowly being starved to death from
joining the Separatists. Little do they realize it’s another one of
Viceroy Nute Gunray’s (the ever great Tom Kenny) nefarious schemes to
capture the Senator. While Gunray and his battle droids give Padme an
armed escort, C3PO and Binks (Anthony Daniels and Ahmed Best,
respectively) figure the smart thing to do is go undercover. That’s
when Binks discovers a Jedi robe interestingly hidden inside Amidala’s
closet (draw your own conclusions) just before he
wrecks their cruiser. Somehow, the Gungan now has to rescue his lady
while C3PO tries to call in the cavalry.
Again, as C3PO would say, “Oh dear...”
“Jar Jar’s looks, expressions and his characteristic personality allow
us to animate him to levels of exaggeration that really stand out from
the other human characters or two-legged creatures,” episode director
Jesse Yeh says. “To me, his character is almost right out of the
classic Disney or Warner Bros. cartoons. He is not always completely
‘there,’ he is clumsy and he seems to have a talent for making mistakes
that really matter – sometimes in a constructive way, sometimes in a
destructive way. I think it’s easy to be attracted by his innocent,
childlike, naive side. He’s like a loveable, well-meaning friend – one
you don’t want around when it’s a matter of life and death. But once
you’ve lived through the crisis, you definitely want to invite him to
the celebration party.”
“I wanted to find a middle ground between the funny side of Jar Jar and
heroic redemption,” added episode director Kevin Rubio. “He is a fish
out of water, and, yeah, he can be goofy and stupid, but in context, it
works. There’s a phrase that I think applies to almost every episode
that I’ve seen, and I know it influenced me on this episode. It appears
in the prologue to the original Star Wars novelization: ‘They were in
the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally they became heroes.’ I
think that says it all for Jar Jar.”
Someone should ask the diplomatic droid if he agrees with those opinions.
Personally, about the only time I’ve ever found Jar Jar worth more than a rare chuckle is its first appearance in the first Robot Chicken
parody, the one where Darth Vader through the clumsy alien through an
air lock and killed him. The sequel satire, with Jar Jar as a GEICO,
er…Gecko, “celebrity” spokesperson, wasn’t bad, but my personal
sentiment of the character is his next role should be as one of the
victims of the series Saw. This latest episode doesn’t do anything to change my opinion.
As Matt Senreich said in an interview last week, this is not a knock on
Best. He’s a magnificent voice artist who does his best to do something
with the character he’s handed. The simple truth is one can only
tolerate Jar Jar’s gnarly patois for only so long before it starts
making your ears bleed. His actions, more often than not, are even more
annoying than his banter. It makes one wonder why he hasn’t been turned
into blaster burger ages ago.
The good news is this episode runs the mandatory 22 minutes and it’s
out. Believe me when I say there is far better episode just around the
corner. For starters, the next episode, “Cloak of Darkness,” features
the first SWCW work by a guy most Newsarama readers should know, one Paul Dini.
Expect a lot of good things to be said about that episode next week. In
the meantime, all one can add about “Bombad Jedi” is maybe the guys at
Lucasfilm knew this episode would air just before Thanksgiving. This
episode sure is a turkey.
Related:
Clone Wars Weekly 12: The Movie versus the SeriesClone Wars Weekly 11: Let's Hear it for the Little Droids! Clone Wars Weekly 10: Voicing ALL the Clones